Methods and marking devices with mechanisms for indicating and/or detecting marking material color

ABSTRACT

Methods and marking devices for indicating and/or detecting a color of marking material used in performance of a marking operation to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility are described. Information about the color of the marking material may optionally be logged or stored by a marking device and/or transmitted to an external device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) ofU.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/235,619, filed on Aug.20, 2009, and entitled “MARKING DEVICE WITH MECHANISMS FOR INDICATINGAND/OR DETECTING MARKING MATERIAL COLOR,” which application is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Field service operations may be any operation in which companiesdispatch technicians and/or other staff to perform certain activities,for example, installations, services and/or repairs. Field serviceoperations may exist in various industries, examples of which include,but are not limited to, network installations, utility installations,security systems, construction, medical equipment, heating, ventilatingand air conditioning (HVAC) and the like.

An example of a field service operation in the construction industry isa so-called “locate and marking operation,” also commonly referred tomore simply as a “locate operation” (or sometimes merely as “a locate”).In a typical locate operation, a locate technician visits a work site inwhich there is a plan to disturb the ground (e.g., excavate, dig one ormore holes and/or trenches, bore, etc.) so as to determine a presence oran absence of one or more underground facilities (such as various typesof utility cables and pipes) in a dig area to be excavated or disturbedat the work site. In some instances, a locate operation may be requestedfor a “design” project, in which there may be no immediate plan toexcavate or otherwise disturb the ground, but nonetheless informationabout a presence or absence of one or more underground facilities at awork site may be valuable to inform a planning, permitting and/orengineering design phase of a future construction project.

In many states, an excavator who plans to disturb ground at a work siteis required by law to notify any potentially affected undergroundfacility owners prior to undertaking an excavation activity. Advancednotice of excavation activities may be provided by an excavator (oranother party) by contacting a “one-call center.” One-call centerstypically are operated by a consortium of underground facility ownersfor the purposes of receiving excavation notices and in turn notifyingfacility owners and/or their agents of a plan to excavate. As part of anadvanced notification, excavators typically provide to the one-callcenter various information relating to the planned activity, including alocation (e.g., address) of the work site and a description of the digarea to be excavated or otherwise disturbed at the work site.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example in which a locate operation is initiatedas a result of an excavator 110 providing an excavation notice to aone-call center 120. An excavation notice also is commonly referred toas a “locate request,” and may be provided by the excavator to theone-call center via an electronic mail message, information entry via awebsite maintained by the one-call center, or a telephone conversationbetween the excavator and a human operator at the one-call center. Thelocate request may include an address or some other location-relatedinformation describing the geographic location of a work site at whichthe excavation is to be performed, as well as a description of the digarea (e.g., a text description), such as its location relative tocertain landmarks and/or its approximate dimensions, within which thereis a plan to disturb the ground at the work site. One-call centerssimilarly may receive locate requests for design projects (for which, asdiscussed above, there may be no immediate plan to excavate or otherwisedisturb the ground).

Using the information provided in a locate request for plannedexcavation or design projects, the one-call center identifies certainunderground facilities that may be present at the indicated work site.For this purpose, many one-call centers typically maintain a collectionof “polygon maps” which indicate, within a given geographic area overwhich the one-call center has jurisdiction, generally where undergroundfacilities may be found relative to some geographic reference frame orcoordinate system.

Once facilities implicated by the locate request are identified by aone-call center, the one-call center generates a “locate request ticket”(also known as a “locate ticket,” or simply a “ticket”). The locaterequest ticket essentially constitutes an instruction to inspect a worksite and typically identifies the work site of the proposed excavationor design and includes a description of the dig area. The tickettypically lists all of the underground facilities that may be present atthe work site (e.g., by providing a member code for the facility ownerwhose polygon falls within a given buffer zone), and may also includevarious other information relevant to the proposed excavation or design(e.g., the name of the excavation company, a name of a property owner orparty contracting the excavation company to perform the excavation,etc.). The one-call center sends the ticket to one or more undergroundfacility owners 140 and/or one or more locate service providers 130 (whomay be acting as contracted agents of the facility owners) so that theycan conduct a locate and marking operation to verify a presence orabsence of the underground facilities in the dig area. For example, insome instances, a given underground facility owner 140 may operate itsown fleet of locate technicians (e.g., locate technician 145), in whichcase the one-call center 120 may send the ticket to the undergroundfacility owner 140. In other instances, a given facility owner maycontract with a locate service provider to receive locate requesttickets and perform a locate and marking operation in response toreceived tickets on their behalf.

Upon receiving the locate ticket, a locate service provider or afacility owner (hereafter referred to as a “ticket recipient”) maydispatch a locate technician 145 or 150 to the work site of plannedexcavation to determine a presence or absence of one or more undergroundfacilities in the dig area to be excavated or otherwise disturbed. Atypical first step for the locate technician includes utilizing anunderground facility “locate device,” which is an instrument or set ofinstruments (also referred to commonly as a “locate set”) for detectingfacilities that are concealed in some manner, such as cables and pipesthat are located underground. The locate device is employed by thetechnician to verify the presence or absence of underground facilitiesindicated in the locate request ticket as potentially present in the digarea (e.g., via the facility owner member codes listed in the ticket).An underground facility locate device is used to detect electromagneticfields that are generated by a “test” signal provided along a length ofa target facility to be identified. Locate devices typically includeboth a signal transmitter to provide the test signal (e.g., which isapplied by the locate technician to a tracer wire disposed along alength of a facility), and a signal receiver which is generally ahand-held apparatus carried by the locate technician as the technicianwalks around the dig area to search for underground facilities. Thesignal receiver indicates a presence of a facility when it detectselectromagnetic fields arising from the test signal. Conversely, theabsence of a signal detected by the receiver of the locate devicegenerally indicates the absence of the target facility.

In addition to the locate operation, the locate technician alsogenerally performs a “marking operation,” in which the technician marksthe presence (and in some cases the absence) of a given undergroundfacility in the dig area based on the various signals detected (or notdetected) during the locate operation. For this purpose, the locatetechnician conventionally utilizes a “marking device” to dispense amarking material on, for example, the ground, pavement, or other surfacealong a detected underground facility. Marking material may be anymaterial, substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron. Marking devices, such as paint marking wands and/orpaint marking wheels, provide a convenient method of dispensing markingmaterials onto surfaces, such as onto the surface of the ground orpavement.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a conventional marking device 50 with amechanical actuation system to dispense paint as a marker. Generallyspeaking, the marking device 50 includes a handle 38 at a proximal endof an elongated shaft 36 and resembles a sort of “walking stick,” suchthat a technician may operate the marking device while standing/walkingin an upright or substantially upright position. A marking dispenserholder 40 is coupled to a distal end of the shaft 36 so as to containand support a marking dispenser 56, e.g., an aerosol paint can having aspray nozzle 54. Typically, a marking dispenser in the form of anaerosol paint can is placed into the holder 40 upside down, such thatthe spray nozzle 54 is proximate to the distal end of the shaft (closeto the ground, pavement or other surface on which markers are to bedispensed).

In FIGS. 2A and 2B, the mechanical actuation system of the markingdevice 50 includes an actuator or mechanical trigger 42 proximate to thehandle 38 that is actuated/triggered by the technician (e.g., viapulling, depressing or squeezing with fingers/hand). The actuator 42 isconnected to a mechanical coupler 52 (e.g., a rod) disposed inside andalong a length of the elongated shaft 36. The coupler 52 is in turnconnected to an actuation mechanism 58, at the distal end of the shaft36, which mechanism extends outward from the shaft in the direction ofthe spray nozzle 54. Thus, the actuator 42, the mechanical coupler 52,and the actuation mechanism 58 constitute the mechanical actuationsystem of the marking device 50.

FIG. 2A shows the mechanical actuation system of the conventionalmarking device 50 in the non-actuated state, wherein the actuator 42 is“at rest” (not being pulled) and, as a result, the actuation mechanism58 is not in contact with the spray nozzle 54. FIG. 2B shows the markingdevice 50 in the actuated state, wherein the actuator 42 is beingactuated (pulled, depressed, squeezed) by the technician. When actuated,the actuator 42 displaces the mechanical coupler 52 and the actuationmechanism 58 such that the actuation mechanism contacts and appliespressure to the spray nozzle 54, thus causing the spray nozzle todeflect slightly and dispense paint. The mechanical actuation system isspring-loaded so that it automatically returns to the non-actuated state(FIG. 2A) when the actuator 42 is released.

In some environments, arrows, flags, darts, or other types of physicalmarks may be used to mark the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility in a dig area, in addition to or as an alternative to amaterial applied to the ground (such as paint, chalk, dye, tape) alongthe path of a detected utility. The marks resulting from any of a widevariety of materials and/or objects used to indicate a presence orabsence of underground facilities generally are referred to as “locatemarks.” Often, different color materials and/or physical objects may beused for locate marks, wherein different colors correspond to differentutility types. For example, the American Public Works Association (APWA)has established a standardized color-coding system for utilityidentification for use by public agencies, utilities, contractors andvarious groups involved in ground excavation (e.g., red=electric powerlines and cables; blue=potable water; orange=telecommunication lines;yellow=gas, oil, steam). In some cases, the technician also may provideone or more marks to indicate that no facility was found in the dig area(sometimes referred to as a “clear”).

As mentioned above, the foregoing activity of identifying and marking apresence or absence of one or more underground facilities generally isreferred to for completeness as a “locate and marking operation.”However, in light of common parlance adopted in the constructionindustry, and/or for the sake of brevity, one or both of the respectivelocate and marking functions may be referred to in some instances simplyas a “locate operation” or a “locate” (i.e., without making any specificreference to the marking function). Accordingly, it should beappreciated that any reference in the relevant arts to the task of alocate technician simply as a “locate operation” or a “locate” does notnecessarily exclude the marking portion of the overall process. At thesame time, in some contexts a locate operation is identified separatelyfrom a marking operation, wherein the former relates more specificallyto detection-related activities and the latter relates more specificallyto marking-related activities.

Inaccurate locating and/or marking of underground facilities can resultin physical damage to the facilities, property damage, and/or personalinjury during the excavation process that, in turn, can expose afacility owner or contractor to significant legal liability. Whenunderground facilities are damaged and/or when property damage orpersonal injury results from damaging an underground facility during anexcavation, the excavator may assert that the facility was notaccurately located and/or marked by a locate technician, while thelocate contractor who dispatched the technician may in turn assert thatthe facility was indeed properly located and marked. Proving whether theunderground facility was properly located and marked can be difficultafter the excavation (or after some damage, e.g., a gas explosion),because in many cases the physical locate marks (e.g., the markingmaterial or other physical marks used to mark the facility on thesurface of the dig area) will have been disturbed or destroyed duringthe excavation process (and/or damage resulting from excavation).

SUMMARY

Applicants have recognized and appreciated that uncertainties which maybe attendant to locate and marking operations may be significantlyreduced by collecting various information particularly relating to themarking operation, rather than merely focusing on information relatingto detection of underground facilities via a locate device. In manyinstances, excavators arriving to a work site have only physical locatemarks on which to rely to indicate a presence or absence of undergroundfacilities, and they are not generally privy to information that mayhave been collected previously during the locate operation. Accordingly,the integrity and accuracy of the physical locate marks applied during amarking operation arguably is significantly more important in connectionwith reducing risk of damage and/or injury during excavation than thelocation of where an underground facility was detected via a locatedevice during a locate operation.

More specifically, Applicants have recognized and appreciated thatconventional techniques for using a locate device to detect undergroundfacilities are sometimes tentative and typically iterative in nature,and use of locate devices with GPS capabilities may result in redundant,spurious and/or incomplete geographic location data collected by suchdevices. For example, during a typical locate operation, a technicianattempting to locate an underground facility with a locate device oftenneeds to sweep an appreciable area around a suspected undergroundfacility, and make multiple passes with the locate device over theunderground facility to obtain meaningful detection signals.Furthermore, the technician often needs to rely significantly on visualobservations of the area, including relevant landmarks such as facilityconnections to buildings, transformer boxes, maintenance/public accesspoints, curbs, sidewalks, roadways, etc., to effectively deduce asensible path of an underground facility to be located. The foregoing isparticularly true if at some point during the locate operation thetechnician loses a signal from an underground facility in the process ofbeing detected (e.g., due to a broken transmitter circuit path from adamaged tracer wire, and loss of the transmitter test signal). In viewof the foregoing, it may be readily appreciated that collecting andlogging geographic location information throughout this process mayresult in excessive and/or imprecise data, or in some instancesincomplete relevant data (e.g., in the case of signal loss/broken tracerwire), from which it may be difficult to cull the data that is trulycomplete and representative of where the underground facility ultimatelywas detected.

Furthermore, Applicants have recognized and appreciated that thelocation at which an underground facility ultimately is detected duringa locate operation is not always where the technician physically marksthe ground, pavement or other surface during a marking operation; infact, technician imprecision or negligence, as well as various groundconditions and/or different operating conditions amongst differentlocate devices, may in some instances result in significantdiscrepancies between detected location and physical locate marks.Accordingly, having documentation (e.g., an electronic record) of wherephysical locate marks were actually dispensed (i.e., what an excavatorencounters when arriving to a work site) is notably more relevant to theassessment of liability in the event of damage and/or injury than wherean underground facility was detected prior to marking.

Examples of marking devices configured to collect some types ofinformation relating specifically to marking operations are provided inU.S. publication no. 2008-0228294-A1, published Sep. 18, 2008, filedMar. 13, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method With Locationand/or Time Tracking,” and U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1,published Oct. 9, 2008, filed Apr. 4, 2007, and entitled “Marking Systemand Method,” both of which publications are incorporated herein byreference. These publications describe, amongst other things, collectinginformation relating to the geographic location, time, and/orcharacteristics (e.g., color/type) of dispensed marking material from amarking device and generating an electronic record based on thiscollected information. Applicants have recognized and appreciated thatcollecting information relating to both geographic location and color ofdispensed marking material provides for automated correlation ofgeographic information for a locate mark to facility type (e.g.,red=electric power lines and cables; blue=potable water;orange=telecommunication lines; yellow=gas, oil, steam); in contrast, inconventional locate devices equipped with GPS capabilities as discussedabove, there is no apparent automated provision for readily linking GPSinformation for a detected facility to the type of facility detected.Applicants have further appreciated that building a more comprehensiveelectronic record of information relating to marking operations furtherfacilitates ensuring the accuracy of such operations.

In view of the foregoing, various inventive embodiments disclosed hereinrelate generally to marking devices that include mechanisms forindicating, detecting and/or logging marking material information, suchas marking material color. The mechanisms may include a marking materialselector and/or a sensor to detect the color of a cap of the markingdispenser.

According to a first aspect of the invention, a marking device isprovided to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in adig area. The marking device comprises a housing configured to enabledispensing of a marking material onto the ground for marking thepresence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area; a markingdispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a marking dispenser; anactuator to cause dispensing of the marking material from the markingdispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of anunderground facility in the dig area; a marking material selector toprovide marking material information in response to user selection; alocal memory to store the marking material information from the markingmaterial selector; and a processing device configured to control loggingof the marking material information in the local memory.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a method is provided forperforming a marking operation for marking the presence or absence of anunderground facility in a dig area using a marking device that holds amarking dispenser. The method comprises dispensing a marking materialfrom the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area to mark thepresence or absence of an underground facility, in response toactivation of the marking dispenser; generating marking materialinformation in response to a user selection from a marking materialselector; and logging the marking material information in a local memoryof the marking device.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a marking device isprovided to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in adig area. The marking device comprises a housing configured to enabledispensing of a marking material onto the ground for marking thepresence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area; a markingdispenser holder affixed to the housing to hold a marking dispenser; anactuator to cause dispensing of the marking material from the markingdispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or absence of anunderground facility in the dig area; a sensor to detect the color of acap of the marking dispenser and to provide color information based onthe detected color; a local memory to store the color information; and aprocessing device to control logging of the color information in thelocal memory.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention, a method is provided forperforming a marking operation for marking the presence or absence of anunderground facility in a dig area using a marking device that holds amarking dispenser. The method comprises dispensing a marking materialfrom the marking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area to mark thepresence or absence of an underground facility, in response toactivation of the marking dispenser; detecting the color of the cap ofthe marking dispenser and providing color information based on thedetected color; and logging the color information in a local memory ofthe marking device.

According to a fifth aspect a marking device is provided to mark thepresence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area. Themarking device comprises a housing configured to enable dispensing of amarking material onto the ground for marking the presence or absence ofan underground facility in a dig area; a marking dispenser holderaffixed to the housing to hold a marking dispenser; an actuator to causedispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in thedig area; a marking material selector to provide marking materialinformation in response to user selection; and a communication interfaceconfigured to transmit the marking material information from the markingdevice to an external computing device.

According to a sixth aspect, a marking device is provided to mark thepresence or absence of an underground facility in a dig area. Themarking device comprises a housing configured to enable dispensing of amarking material onto the ground for marking the presence or absence ofan underground facility in a dig area; a marking dispenser holderaffixed to the housing to hold a marking dispenser; an actuator to causedispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground to mark the presence or absence of an underground facility in thedig area; a sensor to detect the color of a cap of the marking dispenserand to provide color information based on the detected color; and acommunication interface configured to transmit the color informationfrom the marking device to an external computing device.

According to a seventh aspect, a method is provided for performing amarking operation for marking the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility in a dig area using a marking device that holds a markingdispenser. The method comprises dispensing a marking material from themarking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area to mark the presenceor absence of an underground facility, in response to activation of themarking dispenser; generating marking material information in responseto a user selection from a marking material selector; and transmittingthe marking material information from the marking device to an externaldevice via a communication interface.

According to an eighth aspect, a method is provided for performing amarking operation for marking the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility in a dig area using a marking device that holds a markingdispenser. The method comprises dispensing a marking material from themarking dispenser onto the ground in the dig area to mark the presenceor absence of an underground facility, in response to activation of themarking dispenser; detecting a color of a cap of the marking dispenserand providing color information based on the detected color; andtransmitting the color information from the marking device to anexternal device via a communication interface.

For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “dig area” refers to aspecified area of a work site within which there is a plan to disturbthe ground (e.g., excavate, dig holes and/or trenches, bore, etc.), andbeyond which there is no plan to excavate in the immediate surroundings.Thus, the metes and bounds of a dig area are intended to providespecificity as to where some disturbance to the ground is planned at agiven work site. It should be appreciated that a given work site mayinclude multiple dig areas.

The term “facility” refers to one or more lines, cables, fibers,conduits, transmitters, receivers, or other physical objects orstructures capable of or used for carrying, transmitting, receiving,storing, and providing utilities, energy, data, substances, and/orservices, and/or any combination thereof. The term “undergroundfacility” means any facility beneath the surface of the ground. Examplesof facilities include, but are not limited to, oil, gas, water, sewer,power, telephone, data transmission, cable television (TV), and/orinternet services.

The term “locate device” refers to any apparatus and/or device fordetecting and/or inferring the presence or absence of any facility,including without limitation, any underground facility. In variousexamples, a locate device may include both a locate transmitter and alocate receiver (which in some instances may also be referred tocollectively as a “locate instrument set,” or simply “locate set”).

The term “marking device” refers to any apparatus, mechanism, or otherdevice that employs a marking dispenser for causing a marking materialand/or marking object to be dispensed, or any apparatus, mechanism, orother device for electronically indicating (e.g., logging in memory) alocation, such as a location of an underground facility. Additionally,the term “marking dispenser” refers to any apparatus, mechanism, orother device for dispensing and/or otherwise using, separately or incombination, a marking material and/or a marking object. An example of amarking dispenser may include, but is not limited to, a pressurized canof marking paint. The term “marking material” means any material,substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron. The term “marking object” means any object and/orobjects used or which may be used separately or in combination to mark,signify, and/or indicate. Examples of marking objects may include, butare not limited to, a flag, a dart, and arrow, and/or an RFID markingball. It is contemplated that marking material may include markingobjects. It is further contemplated that the terms “marking materials”or “marking objects” may be used interchangeably in accordance with thepresent disclosure.

The term “locate mark” means any mark, sign, and/or object employed toindicate the presence or absence of any underground facility. Examplesof locate marks may include, but are not limited to, marks made withmarking materials, marking objects, global positioning or otherinformation, and/or any other means. Locate marks may be represented inany form including, without limitation, physical, visible, electronic,and/or any combination thereof.

The terms “actuate” or “trigger” (verb form) are used interchangeably torefer to starting or causing any device, program, system, and/or anycombination thereof to work, operate, and/or function in response tosome type of signal or stimulus. Examples of actuation signals orstimuli may include, but are not limited to, any local or remote,physical, audible, inaudible, visual, non-visual, electronic,mechanical, electromechanical, biomechanical, biosensing or othersignal, instruction, or event. The terms “actuator” or “trigger” (nounform) are used interchangeably to refer to any method or device used togenerate one or more signals or stimuli to cause or causing actuation.Examples of an actuator/trigger may include, but are not limited to, anyform or combination of a lever, switch, program, processor, screen,microphone for capturing audible commands, and/or other device ormethod. An actuator/trigger may also include, but is not limited to, adevice, software, or program that responds to any movement and/orcondition of a user, such as, but not limited to, eye movement, brainactivity, heart rate, other data, and/or the like, and generates one ormore signals or stimuli in response thereto. In the case of a markingdevice or other marking mechanism (e.g., to physically or electronicallymark a facility or other feature), actuation may cause marking materialto be dispensed, as well as various data relating to the markingoperation (e.g., geographic location, time stamps, characteristics ofmaterial dispensed, etc.) to be logged in an electronic file stored inmemory. In the case of a locate device or other locate mechanism (e.g.,to physically locate a facility or other feature), actuation may cause adetected signal strength, signal frequency, depth, or other informationrelating to the locate operation to be logged in an electronic filestored in memory.

The terms “locate and marking operation,” “locate operation,” and“locate” generally are used interchangeably and refer to any activity todetect, infer, and/or mark the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility. In some contexts, the term “locate operation” is used to morespecifically refer to detection of one or more underground facilities,and, the term “marking operation” is used to more specifically refer tousing a marking material and/or one or more marking objects to mark apresence or an absence of one or more underground facilities. The term“locate technician” refers to an individual performing a locateoperation. A locate and marking operation often is specified inconnection with a dig area, at least a portion of which may be excavatedor otherwise disturbed during excavation activities.

The term “user” refers to an individual utilizing a locate device and/ora marking device and may include, but is not limited to, land surveyors,locate technicians, and support personnel.

The terms “locate request” and “excavation notice” are usedinterchangeably to refer to any communication to request a locate andmarking operation. The term “locate request ticket” (or simply “ticket”)refers to any communication or instruction to perform a locateoperation. A ticket might specify, for example, the address ordescription of a dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that the digarea is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the excavationarea for certain gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television,and/or some other underground facility. The term “historical ticket”refers to past tickets that have been completed.

The following U.S. published applications and patents are herebyincorporated herein by reference:

U.S. publication no. 2008-0228294-A1, published Sep. 18, 2008, filedMar. 13, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method With Locationand/or Time Tracking;”

U.S. Pat. No. 7,640,105, issued Dec. 29, 2009, filed Mar. 13, 2007, andentitled “Marking System and Method With Location and/or Time Tracking;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0094553-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010, filedDec. 16, 2009, and entitled “Systems and Methods for Using Location Dataand/or Time Data to Electronically Display Dispensing of Markers by AMarking System or Marking Tool;”

U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1, published Oct. 9, 2008, filed Apr.4, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0013928-A1, published Jan. 15, 2009, filedSep. 24, 2008, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0090858-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010, filedDec. 16, 2009, and entitled “Systems and Methods for Using MarkingInformation to Electronically Display Dispensing of Markers by a MarkingSystem or Marking Tool;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238414-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedMar. 18, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0241045-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedSep. 26, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238415-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedSep. 26, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0241046-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238416-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0237408-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202101-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 12, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202110-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedSep. 11, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0201311-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedJan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202111-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedJan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204625-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 5, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Operation;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204466-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedSep. 4, 2008, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0207019-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210284-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210297-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210298-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210285-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0324815-A1, published Dec. 31, 2009, filedApr. 24, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Marking Methods UsingMarking Dispenser with Machine-Readable ID Mechanism;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0006667-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedApr. 24, 2009, and entitled, “Marker Detection Mechanisms for use inMarking Devices And Methods of Using Same;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0085694 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Marking Device Docking Stations and Methods ofUsing Same;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0085701 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Marking Device Docking Stations Having SecurityFeatures and Methods of Using Same;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0084532 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Marking Device Docking Stations HavingMechanical Docking and Methods of Using Same;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0088032-A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.29, 2009, and entitled, “Methods, Apparatus and Systems for GeneratingElectronic Records of Locate And Marking Operations, and Combined Locateand Marking Apparatus for Same;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0117654 A1, published May 13, 2010, filed Dec.30, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Displaying anElectronic Rendering of a Locate and/or Marking Operation Using DisplayLayers;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0086677 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Aug.11, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Generating anElectronic Record of a Marking Operation Including Service-RelatedInformation and Ticket Information;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0086671 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Nov.20, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Generating anElectronic Record of A Marking Operation Including Service-RelatedInformation and Ticket Information;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0085376 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Oct.28, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Displaying anElectronic Rendering of a Marking Operation Based on an ElectronicRecord of Marking Information;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0088164-A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate andMarking Operations with Respect to Facilities Maps;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0088134 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Oct.1, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate andMarking Operations with Respect to Historical Information;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0088031 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.28, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Generating anElectronic Record of Environmental Landmarks Based on Marking DeviceActuations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204238-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Electronically Controlled Marking Apparatusand Methods;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0208642-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For Creatingan Electronic Record of Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210098-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For Creatingan Electronic Record of Marking Apparatus Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0201178-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Methods For Evaluating Operation of MarkingApparatus;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238417-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedFeb. 6, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Indicating PlannedExcavation Sites on Electronic Images;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202112-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records ofUnderground Facility Locate Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204614-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records ofUnderground Facility Locate Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0327024-A1, published Dec. 31, 2009, filedJun. 26, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010862-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation Based on GeographicInformation;”

U.S. publication No. 2010-0010863-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple ScoringCategories;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010882-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Dynamic AssessmentParameters;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010883-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple QualityAssessment Criteria;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0088135 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Oct.1, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Analyzing Locate andMarking Operations with Respect to Environmental Landmarks;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0085185 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Methods and Apparatus for Generating ElectronicRecords of Locate Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0090700-A1, published Apr. 15, 2010, filedOct. 30, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Displaying anElectronic Rendering of a Locate Operation Based on an Electronic Recordof Locate Information;” and

U.S. publication no. 2010-0085054 A1, published Apr. 8, 2010, filed Sep.30, 2009, and entitled, “Systems and Methods for Generating ElectronicRecords of Locate And Marking Operations.”

It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing conceptsand additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided suchconcepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being partof the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, allcombinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of thisdisclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subjectmatter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminologyexplicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosureincorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistentwith the particular concepts disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generallybeing placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

The present disclosure, both as to its organization and manner ofoperation, together with further objectives and advantages, may be bestunderstood by reference to the following description, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings as set forth below:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates a process for initiationof a locate operation;

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate a conventional marking device with amechanical actuation system to dispense paint as a marker;

FIG. 3 illustrates a perspective view of an example of a marking devicethat includes simple mechanisms for indicating and/or detecting markingmaterial color, according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a functional block diagram of an example of theelectronics of the marking device, according to the present disclosure;and

FIG. 5 illustrates a side view of an example of a cap color detectionmechanism of the marking device, according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Following below are more detailed descriptions of various conceptsrelated to, and embodiments of, inventive systems, methods and apparatusfor indicating, detecting and/or logging marking material informationrepresentative of marking material dispensed by a marking device. Itshould be appreciated that various concepts introduced above anddiscussed in greater detail below may be implemented in any of numerousways, as the disclosed concepts are not limited to any particular mannerof implementation. Examples of specific implementations and applicationsare provided primarily for illustrative purposes.

The present disclosure describes a marking device that includes simplemechanisms for indicating and/or detecting marking material color. Inone embodiment, the present disclosure describes a marking device thatincludes a manual selector for indicating the color of the markingmaterial being used. Color information may be saved according to thesetting of the selector. In another embodiment, the present disclosuredescribes a marking device that includes a color detection device fordetecting the color of the cap of the marking dispenser that isinstalled therein.

Referring to FIG. 3, a perspective view of an example of a markingdevice 100 that includes simple mechanisms for indicating and/ordetecting marking material color is presented. Marking device 100 is asimple electronic marking device that may have a marking dispenser 110installed therein for dispensing marking material 112.

Marking device 100 includes an actuator 114, which may be anelectrical/mechanical actuator for activating the marking material sprayaction of marking dispenser 110. Marking device 100 also includes a userinterface 116. User interface 116 of marking device 100 may be formed ofany mechanism or combination of mechanisms by which the user (e.g., alocate technician) may operate the device and by which information thatis processed by the device may be presented to the user. For example,user interface 116 may include, but is not limited to, a display, aruggedized touch panel, one or more manual pushbuttons, one or moretoggle switches, one or more rocker switches, one or more sliding barselectors or slide switches, a keypad, an audio speaker, an audiblebuzzer or alert mechanism, a speaker, and any combinations thereof.

User interface 116 may further include a simple selector mechanism formanually indicating the color of marking material 112 that is beingdispensed from marking device 100. For example, user interface 116 mayinclude a selector 117. In one example implementation, selector 117 maybe a rotary multiple-position switch, such as shown in FIG. 3. In thisexample, the positions of selector 117 may include, but are not limitedto, WHITE, PINK, RED, YELLOW, ORANGE, BLUE, PURPLE, and GREEN. Whenwhite marking material 112 is installed in marking device 100, the user(not shown) manually sets selector 117 to the WHITE position; when pinkmarking material 112 is installed in marking device 100, the usermanually sets selector 117 to the PINK position; when red markingmaterial 112 is installed in marking device 100, the user manually setsselector 117 to the RED position; and so on. According to onenon-limiting embodiment, the selector 117 may be a Mouser Part#633-FR02FR10P-S rotary switch, available from Mouser Electronics ofMansfield, Tex., although other rotary switches may also be suitable, asthis is simply a non-limiting example. In other examples, selector 117may be implemented using a sliding bar selector, multiple pushbuttons(e.g., illuminated pushbuttons), multiple toggle switches, multiplerocker switches (e.g., in the form of a rocker switch panel, such as a428RSP rocker switch panel available from Airpax SCS Oviedo of Oviedo,Fla. including LED indicators), one or more slide switches (e.g., slideswitch Mouser Part #611-L101011MS02Q available from Mouser Electronicsof Mansfield, Tex.), and the like.

As should be appreciated from the foregoing, a user may be provided withan indication (i.e., feedback) as to whether a particular color has beenselected. For example, the selector mechanism itself may provide anindication. As a non-limiting example, the selector mechanism mayinclude one or more switches or buttons which illuminate with aparticular color when activated (e.g., the selector mechanism mayinclude a panel of switches corresponding to the various markingmaterial color options, and each switch may include an LED thatilluminates with the corresponding color when selected). According toone embodiment, an indication may additionally or alternatively beprovided to the user via the user interface other than directly from theselection mechanism.

Marking device 100 also includes device electronics 118, which is usedto manage the overall operations of marking device 100. Additionally,device electronics 118 is used to process the information of selector117. More details of device electronics 118 are described with referenceto FIG. 4.

Referring to FIG. 4, a functional block diagram of an example of deviceelectronics 118 of marking device 100 is presented. Device electronics118 of marking device 100 may include, for example, user interface 116,a processing unit 210, a quantity of local memory 212 that may be usedto store any device data 214, decode logic 218, and, optionally, anactuation system 216 that is fed by actuator 114.

Processing unit 210 may be any standard controller or microprocessordevice that is capable of executing program instructions. Memory 212 maybe any data storage mechanism for storing any information that isprocessed locally at marking device 100. Processing unit 210 and memory212 may be used for managing the overall operations of marking device100.

Actuation system 216 of marking device 100 may be triggered by amechanical and/or electrical actuator mechanism, such as actuator 114.Actuation system 216 may be coupled to an actuator of marking dispenser110 that causes marking material 112 to be dispensed. Actuation meansstarting or causing any device (e.g., marking device 100), program,system, and/or any combination thereof to work, operate, and/orfunction. Actuations of marking device 100 may be performed for anypurpose, such as, but not limited to, for dispensing marking materialand for capturing any information of any component of marking device 100without dispensing marking material.

Device data 214 that is stored in the local memory 212 may be any datathat is generated and/or used during locate operations by any devicesthat are installed in marking device 100. For example, the contents ofdevice data 214 may include any information generated and/or used byactuation system 216 and decode logic 218. In one example, decode logic218 monitors the state of selector 117 and provides a unique binarydecode of each setting. This binary decode indicates the color ofmarking material 112 and may be stored as the marking material colorinformation in device data 214. An example of unique color informationthat is generated by decode logic 218 is shown in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Correlation of selector 117 settings to unique color informationprovided by decode logic 218 Selector 117 setting Binary colorinformation WHITE 0000 PINK 0001 RED 0010 YELLOW 0011 ORANGE 0100 BLUE0101 PURPLE 0110 GREEN 0111

Optionally, device electronics 118 of marking device 100 may furtherinclude other input devices 220 in addition to user interface 116,processing unit 210, local memory 212, actuation system 216, and decodelogic 218.

Examples of other input devices 220 may include, but are not limited to,one or more of the following types of devices: a marking materialdetection mechanism, a location tracking system, a temperature sensor, ahumidity sensor, a light sensor, a compass, an inclinometer, anaccelerometer, an image capture device, an audio recorder, and the like.In addition to the color information that results from the setting ofselector 117, information generated and/or used during locate operationsby any input device 220 may be stored in device data 214 at local memory212.

Device data 214, which includes the color information from the settingof selector 117, may be offloaded from the local memory 212 of markingdevice 100 to an external computing device (not shown) for processing.In one example, the device data 214 of one or more locate operations maybe offloaded daily or weekly in bulk from the local memory 212 ofmarking device 100 to an external computing device for processing. Oneway to implement this embodiment is to provide local memory 212 in theform of a removable memory device, such as, but not limited to, aUniversal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive memory device, which is installedin a USB port (not shown) of marking device 100.

Optionally, device electronics 118 of marking device 100 may furtherinclude a communication interface 222. Communication interface 222 maybe any wired and/or wireless communication interface for connecting to anetwork (not shown) and by which information may be exchanged with othercomputing devices that may be separate from marking device 100. Examplesof wired communication interfaces may include, but are not limited to,USB ports, RS232 connectors, RJ45 connectors, Ethernet, and anycombinations thereof. Examples of wireless communication interfaces mayinclude, but are not limited to, an Intranet connection, Internet,Bluetooth® technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11 technology, radiofrequency (RF), Infrared Data Association (IrDA) compatible protocols,Local Area Networks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Shared WirelessAccess Protocol (SWAP), any combinations thereof, and other types ofwireless networking protocols.

When communication interface 222 is present, there exists the option ofstoring the color information data in device data 214 of local memory212 and offloading the information periodically, as described above.However, there further exists the option of transmitting device data214, which includes the color information from the setting of selector117, to the external computing device in real time. For example, in someembodiments, data, such as color information, may be transmitted to anexternal computing device and not stored locally on the marking device.For example, in some embodiments the marking device may not have a localstorage, and the color information may be transmitted via communicationinterface 222 to an external device.

Referring to FIG. 5, a side view of an example of a cap color detectionmechanism 300 of marking device 100 is presented. Cap color detectionmechanism 300 may be used in place of or in combination with selector117. While selector 117 is one example of a simple mechanism forindicating the color of marking material 112, cap color detectionmechanism 300 provides another manner for detecting the color of markingmaterial 112. Because the color of the caps of marking dispensers 110are provided to substantially match the color of the marking material112 therein, a mechanism for detecting the color of the cap provides anindirect way to determine the color of the marking material 112 beingdispensed during locate operations.

Cap color detection mechanism 300 may be, for example, a sensor 310 thatis installed in close proximity to the cap of marking dispenser 110 wheninstalled in marking device 100, as shown in FIG. 3. Preferably, thereis a “line of sight” between sensor 310 and the cap of marking dispenser110.

In one example, sensor 310 may be a spectrometer (or reflectancespectrometer) device, which is an optical instrument that is used tomeasure properties of light over a specific portion of theelectromagnetic spectrum. Spectrometers are typically used to performspectroscopic analysis in order to identify materials. During locateoperations, the spectrometer (e.g., sensor 310) is used to performspectroscopic analysis in order to capture color information of markingmaterial 112 by detecting the color of the cap of marking dispenser 110.Commercially available low power, compact spectrometer devices may besuitable for use as sensor 310 of marking device 100. In one example, adigital value between about 0 and about 100 may be returned from sensor310, depending on the color that is sensed. Again, the information thatis returned from sensor 310 may be incorporated in device data 214 ofmemory 212.

In another example, sensor 310 may be a digital camera for capturing thecolor of the cap of marking dispenser 110. In this example, digitalimaging software may be used to determine the color of the cap.

Optionally, a marking dispenser “presence sensor” (111) may be includedin the marking dispenser holder of the marking device 100. In this case,only when the marking dispenser “presence sensor” (111) detects that amarking dispenser 110 is installed in marking device 100 is selector 117and/or sensor 310 active and/or monitored.

Referring again to FIGS. 3, 4, and 5, the simple mechanisms forindicating and/or detecting the color of marking material 112 may bepackaged as separate devices that may be mechanically mounted to anycommercially available marking device from any marking device supplier.In one example, selector 117, decode logic 218, and memory 212 may beprovided as a separate battery-powered device to be mounted on anymarking device. In another example, sensor 310 and memory 212 may beprovided as a separate battery-powered device to be mounted on anymarking device.

While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustratedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision avariety of other means and/or structures for performing the functionand/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantagesdescribed herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications isdeemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments describedherein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations describedherein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters,dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon thespecific application or applications for which the inventive teachingsis/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is,therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presentedby way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claimsand equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventiveembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individualfeature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerousways. For example, some of the embodiments may be implemented usinghardware, software or a combination thereof. When implemented insoftware, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor orcollection of processors, whether provided in a single computer ordistributed among multiple computers.

Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied in anyof a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. Additionally, acomputer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as acomputer but with suitable processing capabilities, including a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone or any other suitable portable orfixed electronic device.

Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices. Thesedevices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface.Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interfaceinclude printers or display screens for visual presentation of outputand speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentationof output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a userinterface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touchpads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receiveinput information through speech recognition or in other audible format.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in anysuitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network,such as an enterprise network, an intelligent network (IN) or theInternet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and mayoperate according to any suitable protocol and may include wirelessnetworks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.

The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as acomputer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storagemedia) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compactdiscs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuitconfigurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductordevices, or other non-transitory medium or tangible computer storagemedium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one ormore computers or other processors, perform methods that implement thevarious embodiments of the invention discussed above. The computerreadable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program orprograms stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more differentcomputers or other processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussedabove. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to oneaspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methodsof the present invention need not reside on a single computer orprocessor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a numberof different computers or processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconvey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods,of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of themethod may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments maybe constructed in which acts are performed in an order different thanillustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, eventhough shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or“exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:
 1. A hand-held marking device to mark a presence oran absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising: ahand-held housing to dispense a marking material onto ground for markingthe presence or the absence of the underground facility in the dig area;a marking dispenser holder affixed to the hand-held housing to hold amarking dispenser; a presence sensor in the marking dispenser holder todetect a presence of the marking dispenser within the marking dispenserholder; an actuator to cause dispensing of the marking material from themarking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or the absence ofthe underground facility in the dig area; a multiple-position markingmaterial selector to provide marking material information in response touser selection, wherein the marking material information comprises paintcolor information; a local memory to store the marking materialinformation from the marking material selector; and a processing devicecommunicatively coupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-positionmarking material selector, and the local memory, wherein the processingdevice is configured to control logging of the marking materialinformation provided by the multiple-position marking material selectorin the local memory when the presence of the marking dispenser isdetected by the presence sensor.
 2. A hand-held marking device asdefined in claim 1, wherein the processing device is configured to logtimestamp information with the marking material information.
 3. Ahand-held marking device as defined in claim 1, further including atleast one additional input device, wherein the processing device isconfigured to log input data from the additional input device with themarking material information.
 4. A hand-held marking device as definedin claim 1, further comprising a communication interface, wherein theprocessing device is configured to transmit the marking materialinformation from the hand-held marking device to an external computingdevice.
 5. A hand-held marking device as defined in claim 1, wherein thelocal memory comprises a removable local memory.
 6. A hand-held markingdevice as defined in claim 1, further including a user interface foruser interaction with the hand-held marking device.
 7. A hand-heldmarking device as defined in claim 1, further including an actuationdevice coupled between the actuator and the processing device, whereinthe processing device is configured to log the marking materialinformation in response to actuation of the actuation device.
 8. Ahand-held marking device to mark a presence or an absence of anunderground facility in a dig area, comprising: a hand-held housing todispense a marking material onto ground for marking the presence or theabsence of the underground facility in the dig area; a marking dispenserholder affixed to the hand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; apresence sensor in the marking dispenser holder to detect a presence ofthe marking dispenser within the marking dispenser holder; an actuatorto cause dispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenseronto the ground to mark the presence or the absence of the undergroundfacility in the dig area; a multiple-position marking material selectorto provide marking material information in response to user selection,wherein the marking material information comprises paint colorinformation; a local memory to store the marking material informationfrom the marking material selector; a processing device communicativelycoupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-position marking materialselector, and the local memory, wherein the processing device isconfigured to control logging of the marking material informationprovided by the multiple-position marking material selector in the localmemory when the presence of the marking dispenser is detected by thepresence sensor; and a sensor to detect a color of a cap of the markingdispenser and to provide color information based on the detected color.9. A hand-held marking device as defined in claim 8, wherein the markingdispenser is a paint dispenser, the marking material is paint, andwherein the sensor is configured to sense paint color based on the colorof the cap of the paint dispenser.
 10. A hand-held marking device asdefined in claim 8, wherein the sensor comprises a spectrometer.
 11. Ahand-held marking device as defined in claim 8, wherein the sensorcomprises an image sensor.
 12. A hand-held marking device, to mark apresence or an absence of an underground facility in a dig area,comprising: a hand-held housing to dispense a marking material ontoground for marking the presence or the absence of the undergroundfacility in the dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixed to thehand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; a presence sensor in themarking dispenser holder to detect a presence of the marking dispenserwithin the marking dispenser holder; an actuator to cause dispensing ofthe marking material from the marking dispenser onto the ground to markthe presence or the absence of the underground facility in the dig area;a multiple-position marking material selector to provide markingmaterial information in response to user selection, wherein the markingmaterial information comprises paint color information; a local memoryto store the marking material information from the marking materialselector; a processing device communicatively coupled to the presencesensor, the multiple-position marking material selector, and the localmemory, wherein the processing device is configured to control loggingof the marking material information provided by the multiple-positionmarking material selector in the local memory when the presence of themarking dispenser is detected by the presence sensor; and a sensor todetect the color of a cap of the marking dispenser and to provide colorinformation based on the detected color, wherein the sensor is enabledto detect the color of the cap of the marking dispenser in response tothe detected presence of the marking dispenser.
 13. A hand-held markingdevice as defined in claim 8, further comprising at least one additionalinput device to produce input data, wherein the processing device isconfigured to log the input data from the additional input device withthe color information.
 14. A hand-held marking device to mark a presenceor an absence of an underground facility in a dig area, comprising: ahand-held housing to dispense a marking material onto ground for markingthe presence or the absence of the underground facility in the dig area;a marking dispenser holder affixed to the hand-held housing to hold amarking dispenser; a presence sensor in the marking dispenser holder todetect a presence of the marking dispenser within the marking dispenserholder; an actuator to cause dispensing of the marking material from themarking dispenser onto the ground to mark the presence or the absence ofthe underground facility in the dig area; a multiple-position markingmaterial selector to provide marking material information in response touser selection, wherein the marking material information comprises paintcolor information; a local memory to store the marking materialinformation from the marking material selector; a processing devicecommunicatively coupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-positionmarking material selector, and the local memory, wherein the processingdevice is configured to control logging of the marking materialinformation provided by the multiple-position marking material selectorin the local memory when the presence of the marking dispenser isdetected by the presence sensor; a sensor to detect the color of a capof the marking dispenser and to provide color information based on thedetected color; and a communication interface, wherein the processingdevice is configured to transmit the color information to an externalcomputing device via the communication interface.
 15. A hand-heldmarking device as defined in claim 8, further including a user interfacefor user interaction with the hand-held marking device.
 16. A hand-heldmarking device as defined in claim 8, wherein the local memory comprisesa removable local memory.
 17. A hand-held marking device as defined inclaim 8, further including an actuation device coupled between theactuator and the processing device, wherein the processing device isconfigured to enable detecting the color of the cap of the markingdispenser in response to actuation of the actuation device.
 18. A methodfor performing a marking operation for marking a presence or an absenceof an underground facility in a dig area using a hand-held markingdevice to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facilityin the dig area, comprising: a hand-held housing to dispense a markingmaterial onto ground for marking the presence or the absence of theunderground facility in the dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixedto the hand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; a presence sensorin the marking dispenser holder to detect a presence of the markingdispenser within the marking dispenser holder; an actuator to causedispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facilityin the dig area; a multiple-position marking material selector toprovide marking material information in response to user selection,wherein the marking material information comprises paint colorinformation; a local memory to store the marking material informationfrom the marking material selector; and a processing devicecommunicatively coupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-positionmarking material selector, and the local memory, wherein the processingdevice is configured to control logging of the marking materialinformation provided by the multiple-position marking material selectorin the local memory when the presence of the marking dispenser isdetected by the presence sensor, the method comprising: dispensing themarking material from the marking dispenser onto the ground in the digarea to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facility, inresponse to activation of the marking dispenser; generating markingmaterial information in response to the user selection from the markingmaterial selector; and logging the marking material information in thelocal memory of the hand-held marking device.
 19. A method forperforming a marking operation for marking a presence or an absence ofan underground facility in a dig area using a hand-held marking deviceto mark the presence or the absence of the underground facility in thedig area, comprising: a hand-held housing to dispense a marking materialonto ground for marking the presence or the absence of the undergroundfacility in the dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixed to thehand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; a presence sensor in themarking dispenser holder to detect a presence of the marking dispenserwithin the marking dispenser holder; an actuator to cause dispensing ofthe marking material from the marking dispenser onto the ground to markthe presence or the absence of the underground facility in the dig area;a multiple-position marking material selector to provide markingmaterial information in response to user selection, wherein the markingmaterial information comprises paint color information; a local memoryto store the marking material information from the marking materialselector; a processing device communicatively coupled to the presencesensor, the multiple-position marking material selector, and the localmemory, wherein the processing device is configured to control loggingof the marking material information provided by the multiple-positionmarking material selector in the local memory when the presence of themarking dispenser is detected by the presence sensor; and a sensor todetect the color of a cap of the marking dispenser and to provide colorinformation based on the detected color, the method comprising:dispensing the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground in the dig area to mark the presence or the absence of theunderground facility, in response to activation of the markingdispenser; detecting the color of the cap of the marking dispenser andproviding the color information based on the detected color; and loggingthe color information in the local memory of the hand-held markingdevice.
 20. A method for performing a marking operation for marking apresence or an absence of an underground facility in a dig area using ahand-held marking device to mark the presence or the absence of theunderground facility in the dig area, comprising: a hand-held housing todispense a marking material onto ground for marking the presence or theabsence of the underground facility in the dig area; a marking dispenserholder affixed to the hand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; apresence sensor in the marking dispenser holder to detect a presence ofthe marking dispenser within the marking dispenser holder; an actuatorto cause dispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenseronto the ground to mark the presence or the absence of the undergroundfacility in the dig area; a multiple-position marking material selectorto provide marking material information in response to user selection,wherein the marking material information comprises paint colorinformation; a local memory to store the marking material informationfrom the marking material selector; a processing device communicativelycoupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-position marking materialselector, and the local memory, wherein the processing device isconfigured to control logging of the marking material informationprovided by the multiple-position marking material selector in the localmemory when the presence of the marking dispenser is detected by thepresence sensor; and a communication interface, wherein the processingdevice is configured to transmit the marking material information fromthe hand-held marking device to an external computing device, the methodcomprising: dispensing the marking material from the marking dispenseronto the ground in the dig area to mark the presence or the absence ofthe underground facility, in response to activation of the markingdispenser; generating marking material information in response to theuser selection from the marking material selector; and transmitting themarking material information from the hand-held marking device to theexternal computing device via the communication interface.
 21. A methodfor performing a marking operation for marking a presence or an absenceof an underground facility in a dig area using a hand-held markingdevice to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facilityin the dig area, comprising: a hand-held housing to dispense a markingmaterial onto ground for marking the presence or the absence of theunderground facility in the dig area; a marking dispenser holder affixedto the hand-held housing to hold a marking dispenser; a presence sensorin the marking dispenser holder to detect a presence of the markingdispenser within the marking dispenser holder; an actuator to causedispensing of the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground to mark the presence or the absence of the underground facilityin the dig area; a multiple-position marking material selector toprovide marking material information in response to user selection,wherein the marking material information comprises paint colorinformation; a local memory to store the marking material informationfrom the marking material selector; a processing device communicativelycoupled to the presence sensor, the multiple-position marking materialselector, and the local memory, wherein the processing device isconfigured to control logging of the marking material informationprovided by the multiple-position marking material selector in the localmemory when the presence of the marking dispenser is detected by thepresence sensor; a sensor to detect the color of a cap of the markingdispenser and to provide color information based on the detected color;and a communication interface, wherein the processing device isconfigured to transmit the color information to an external computingdevice via the communication interface, the method comprising:dispensing the marking material from the marking dispenser onto theground in the dig area to mark the presence or the absence of theunderground facility, in response to activation of the markingdispenser; detecting the color of the cap of the marking dispenser andproviding the color information based on the detected color; andtransmitting the color information from the hand-held marking device tothe external computing device via the communication interface.
 22. Ahand-held marking device as defined in claim 1, wherein the markingmaterial selector comprises one or more switches or buttons thatilluminate with a particular color when activated.
 23. A hand-heldmarking device as defined in claim 1, further comprising: a userinterface, wherein an indication of the marking material information isprovided via the user interface.
 24. A hand-held marking device asdefined in claim 1, wherein the local memory is further configured tostore a plurality of data blocks, each data block uniquely identifying apossible color of the marking material.
 25. A hand-held marking deviceas defined in claim 1, wherein the multiple-position marking materialselector is a mechanical multiple-position marking material selector.